The present invention relates to a new variety of Verbena plant, named ‘Sunmaribagadi’ that originated from open-pollination of a Verbena hybrid variety called ‘H116-1’ (unpatented).
The Verbena is a very popular plant and is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few varieties of Verbena plants having a decumbent growth habit, abundant branching, many flowers in a cluster, and a high resistance to heat, rain, and disease. Accordingly, this invention was aimed at obtaining a new variety having a decumbent growth habit, much branching, many dark reddish purple flowers in a spike, high tolerance to heat and rain, and resistance to disease and pests.
The female parent ‘H116-1’ used in the open-pollination of ‘Sunmaribagadi’ is a strain of our breeding lines. The stem of ‘H116-1’ is longer than that of ‘Sunmaribagadi’, and the petal color of ‘H116-1’ is purplish red, while that of ‘Sunmaribagadi’ is dark purple-red.
In October 2000, 50 seedlings were obtained from the natural crosses of Verbena variety called ‘H116-1’ and were grown in a controlled environment at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. These seedlings were grown in pots in glasshouses for evaluation. One seedling was selected in view of its growth habit and flower color in October 2001. That seedling was propagated by cutting and a trial was carried out by flower potting and bedding from April to October 2002. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunmariwaba’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,104) and ‘Sunmariro’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,306) for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Verbena plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and uniform and stable in its characteristics. The new variety of Verbena plant was named ‘Sunmaribagadi’.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with The Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S.).